This specification relates to dispensing toner.
A toner is a pure color of paint including several elements including a pigment, a solvent, and a resin. Liquid toners include paints, inks, colorants and other fluids used to dye or color a base material. Toners are often mixed together in order to produce a particular result. For example, automotive paints are typically created using a precise mixture of toners. The mixture for a particular color is defined by a recipe. The recipe identifies the toners, as well as the amounts of each toner. Failure to mix the correct amount of toner results, for example, in a paint that does not exactly match the desired color.
Conventional paint mixing is a manual process. A human user reviews the recipe and then manually pours each toner into a container, e.g., on a scale, until the specified amount of each toner has been poured. However, human pouring often leads to inaccurate pours, especially when a precise amount of each toner is required to form a specific toner mix.
Motorized toner dispensing apparatuses typically use one or more motors to control a spout for a container of toner. However, conventional motorized toner dispensers do not adjust quickly and often over or under pour the toner. Conventional motorized toner dispensing apparatuses use a type of pump activated, for example, by a motor, air driven or electric, which due to the nature of the pump, requires occasional calibration. Since toners contain pigments that can be abrasive, the pumps are subject to wear, leading to the need to calibrate the pump. Additionally, conventional spouts are poorly sealed leading to dripping and introduction of contaminants into toner containers as well as curing of toner within the containers. Thus, conventional spouts require periodic cleaning, especially when changing empty toner containers.